Christ – the Son Acknowledged

For the Lord’s Day:  the 12^th of January 2003

 

Hebrews: 1: 5c & 2 Samuel 7

“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a Son”

 

Introduction:  One of the most tragic developments of the late twentieth century was the cultural downplaying of the importance of human fathers in the context of family and society.  This trend, while having many roots is similar to an earthy premise of socialism, described by Igor Shafarevich in his book: The Socialist Phenomenon.  In that important work, Shafarevich documented several related aims of a socialist society to create a totality of dependence upon the institution of the state.  To that end, the concept of fatherhood had to be demeaned and wherever possible eradicated so that only the state could assume a majority over the affections of its younger citizens.

 

While the Soviet system eventually backed away from full institution of the concept, our American system has faithfully endorsed the realities of that premise in significant numbers of divorced parents, whereby border-line “fathers” are permitted to barely acknowledge their rights and responsibilities.

 

The implications for society are immense in a certain sense similar to the unmanageable social antics of the mythological Greek gods and goddesses.  By graphic contrast to the Greek fictions and those of the Middle Eastern states of antiquity – the awesome Triune Creator God revealed in the Old and New Covenants claims only One Son to share the eternal throne in heaven.

 

Unlike the irreligious deities of the Greco-Roman world, the Sovereign God of heaven and earth acknowledges His only Son who was conceived in the most pristine conceptional encounter ever recorded - not only in the ancient, but also the modern world.

 

Now, while we have already considered the implications of the revealationary aspects of the Son begotten, we must also consider the covenantal aspects of the Father’s acknowledgement of His only Son: Jesus Christ.

 

Development in the Old Covenant:  To that end we shall explore those aspects of the covenant in the Old Testament context quoted here in the Apostolic letter to the Hebrews.  In the Second Book of Samuel the text here quoted is tied in with the Davidic Covenant.  In this seventh chapter of 2 Samuel we learn about David’s desire to build a house for God.  David is informed that while another is charged with that duty – who will be in the line of David, God Himself will build a House for David in and through the glories of His greater Son, the revealed Messiah.

 

Do we sense the awesome provision here?  Certainly we understand the providential preservation of the Davidic line which leads to David’s greater son: Jesus Christ.  But, there is also here a covenantal framework – that the security of David and David’s kindred spirits: the elect – are framed for eternal security in the context of the Covenant promised, revealed and enlarged through the ministry of the prophet Nathan.

 

As the enormity of the implications understood by David begin to sink in, David bestirs himself to the Tabernacle precincts and “sat before the Lord” in a heartfelt attitude of worship.  Gordon Keddie describes the scene in these memorable words:  David “begins to pray by confessing the basis of his approach to the Lord.  This is that God is sovereign and full of grace.  With a humility appropriate to the Lord’s most recent dealings with him, he acknowledges the Lord’s goodness to his family both with respect to past and the future.”

 

Look at the humble content of David’s prayer:  “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”  Here was a man, who like every other deserved the righteous condemnation of a Holy God, and yet has received grace upon grace from a merciful Creator.

 

Then, as Gordon Keddie outlines it: “the body of the prayer begins with the praise of God as the only sovereign God” in verses twenty to twenty-two.  “Then David recalls the covenant faithfulness of God in his mighty acts on behalf of his people” in verses twenty-three to twenty-four.  “David declares that his motive in seeking the Lord’s blessing is not selfish, but a holy desire for the glory of God” in verses twenty-five through twenty-seven.  Finally, “the prayer ends with an expectant petition that God would pour out the promised blessing” in verses twenty-eight and nine.

 

In all of these heartfelt pouring out of David’s soul, the king is showing his appreciation and gratitude for the Creator’s acknowledgement of David’s place not only in the present but also in the future.  Even as David learned and Pastor Keddie explains: “God is the initiator and his call is covenant mercy to all who will, by his grace, hear and heed him.”  This is how the sovereign Lord of all the earth acts towards those He loves and intends to show His divine mercy.

 

Of course, as is all too human, the divine focus of covenant love grew cold and at the end of the Davidic epoch in world history, Ethan the Ezrahite psalmist invoked the Davidic Covenant in Psalm 89: 49-51:

 

“Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,

which by your faithfulness you swore to David?

Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,

and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,

with which your enemies mock, O Lord,

with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.”

 

Did you hear in those words the shifting forms of David and his greater Son?  The old kingdom was passing away so that within the providence of the Lord, the new kingdom under the Lordship of a better Davidic type might be established.  Yes, David as well as any number of the elect from the beginning of time are sons of God and even image bearers of One better to come.

 

Application from the New Covenant:  And it is that One better who is pre-figured in the Old Covenantal context and then fully revealed in the New Covenant.  Commentator Raymond Brown affirms this application “that the Old Testament is a Christ-centered book.  Its writers frequently look beyond their immediate scene to a day when their predictions would be fulfilled, and their impressive language describes greater realities than those apparent in their immediate circumstances.”

 

And we would maintain that this application is part and parcel of the letter to the Hebrews – since the apostolic writer so vividly uses the Old Covenant texts as the foundational basis for the ongoing thesis of chapter one that Christ is indeed better than the angels.

 

May we all the better appreciate the eternal implications in this grand text as explained by John Brown:  “The truth is, that the more closely the divine oracle here quoted, which was revealed, not to David, but to Nathan, is scrutinized, the clearer will the evidence appear that it has a direct reference to the Messiah.  It is quite a different prophecy from that referred to by David as made to himself.  It refers to a son to be raised up after David had gone to be with his fathers, whereas Solomon was not only born but crowned before David’s death; and the person to be raised up, whosoever he is, was to be settled ‘in God’s house and kingdom,’ and His throne was to be ‘established for evermore,’ – words certainly not applicable, in their full extent, to Solomon.”

 

Now, as we move towards a conclusion to this discussion today, we as Christians may have a minimal insensitivity to the laborious argument unfolding before us.  Years ago, I felt that one sermon was more than adequate for not only the chapter before us but even a good chunk of the next as well.  And to some it may appear that I have been making mole-hills out of a mountain in the detailed meditation on the verse portions with which we have been concerned of late.

 

But, let us seriously take into consideration the labor of love outlined by the Apostle to the Hebrews here.  This whole chapter was written for intelligent Jews of the first century.  Sacred text by sacred text he sought to explain the multitude of Old Covenant prophecies which pointed towards the divine nature of Israel’s own Messiah.

 

Certainly, the Messiah was long expected and even to this day pious Jews still announce Messiah shall come, but should He suddenly appear – once again He will not meet their millennial expectations.  They like we lived in a material world and could not grow their spirits beyond their own natural appetites.

 

Someone recently suggested that with my fondness for meals that involve normally animals that either “oink, cluck or moo” I should travel to the Orient and learn truthfully what the word exotic means at meal time!  I believe any visit to that area of the world would have to be limited to about a week, because I understand that a person can actually starve to death in about ten or twelve days – so I am not going to try it.

 

But what is the natural palate when it comes to spiritual food?  Ask any ten people who Jesus Christ was, and of the nine who might recognize his name – inquire about the person of Christ.  I think you will quickly discover that the natural appetite in our day and age is for a “person” who is anything but God incarnate?  And even of the people who use the traditional terminology – you will need to probe their answers to discern the true nature of their affection.  What are your chances of finding someone like David the King?  What of your chances of finding someone like the first generation of Christians?

 

I think you will discover in any honest random survey that very many people haven’t the foggiest notion of just who this “man” Jesus really and truly is.  And so, the ongoing detailed arguments of the Apostle here we may understand are ever and always a necessary prelude to finally and totally knowing who Christ is and then to acknowledge His deity and then to recognize Him as Lord and Savior!

 

But did you know, and this is our final point – it really doesn’t matter if we acknowledge Jesus as the very Son of God!  It truthfully matters only what the sovereign God of all the universe acknowledges and He will tell us that Jesus is His one and only Son.

 

And how can we know that?  Look at David’s experience in the context of the prophecy.  God must acknowledge us as well as sons and daughters!  Not of course in the same sense as Christ - who is the first of a mighty generation of adopted sons and daughters. But as adoptive children such as Christ never was, because Jesus Christ was truly begotten not adopted.  Nevertheless, like David – we are called into the family of God and our entrance therein is in the same way that David came – humbly and with the hallmarks of gratitude, worship and thanksgiving for the great gift of salvation.

 

Have you ever sat before the Lord of all Creation and humbly prayed:  “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”  You should – because therein is the way of life eternal.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

 

Brown, John.  A Geneva Series Commentary: Hebrews.

Brown, Raymond.  The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Hebrews.

Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews.

Keddie, Gordon J.  Welwyn Commentary Series: Triumph of the King.

Owen, John:  Commentary on Book of Hebrews.

Shafarevich, Igor.  The Socialist Phenomenon.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version

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